Powered by Blogger.

Large Chocolate Traybake

Wednesday 29 May 2013
Perfect for birthdays, cake stalls and shared afternoon teas
My husband is a chocoholic, he devours loads of the stuff each week.  Dark chocolate is his preference, not too dark and bitter though, 70% cocoa is about right.  I decided to bake a large traybake so that we could share some chocolate deliciousness with neighbours and friends on a miserable and rainy day.  The recipe below makes two 20cm x 30cm traybakes which you can sandwich together with buttercream, ganache or jam and fresh cream.  You could also cut the large traybake in half to make two 15cm x 10cm layer cakes, perfect for bake sales or cake stalls.  If you only need/want one traybake then halve the recipe.  You could still cut it in half and sandwich it together with ganache or buttercream.

Large Chocolate Traybake

550g self-raising flour
120g cocoa powder
230g caster sugar
660ml milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
250ml oil
2 free range eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven your to 180C/160C Fan.  Line 2 traybake tins, mine measured 20cm x 30 cm.  

Combine the flour, cocoa and sugar in a large bowl.  Combine the milk, vanilla extract, oil and beaten egg in a jug.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together until just combined.  Do not overmix the batter or you will end up with heavy cakes.

Pour the mixture evenly into the two lined traybake tins and bake for 20 minutes.  A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean when the traybakes are cooked.  Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing the traybakes to cool completely on a wire rack.

Ganache
150ml/10 Tblsp double cream
300g dark or milk chocolate, chopped into small pieces

In a microwave safe jug, heat the cream in the microwave until almost boiling then add the chopped chocolate.  You could heat the cream until almost boiling in a saucepan on the hob, instead of using a microwave, and mix in the chopped chocolate.  Mix until combined and you have a thick and glossy mixture.  Leave to cool until thickened then use 1/2 - 2/3 to sandwich together the traybake.  Spread remaining ganache over the top of the traybake.



8 comments:

  1. The piece at the bottom looks really inviting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was delicious, was still fab the next day too. Definitely a cake I will bake more often, especially for cake stalls.

      Delete
  2. How chocolatey was the sponge? And how would you make it more chocolatey? without making it dry or powdery tasting, which can happen if you upset the balance of the ingredients.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You could add more cocoa powder in place of flour, it did taste quite chocolatey to start with though. I'd swap maybe 50g of flour with cocoa.

      Delete
  3. In addition to how do I make the sponge more chocolatey can you also please tell me what size eggs were used and also what kind of oil was used? Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've made the sponge with both medium and large free range eggs, it doesn't make much difference. I used vegetable oil, any flavourless oil should be fine. :)

      Delete
  4. Hi, was the ganache in the top pic made with milk choc and the panache in the bottom pic made with dark choc? The ganache in the bottom pic just looks so dark, which I think would make it taste too much like dark chocolate for my taste, but I'm not sure if I should use milk choc as when the creams added it 'll be watered down.. so will be more creamy..want it to taste like milk chocolate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was the same ganache in both photos, just different light in each picture. If you use a mixture of half dark and half milk chocolate to make the ganache you should get the taste you are looking for. You are right that the cream waters down the taste, you can use hot water to make the ganache, just add it slowly to the chopped chocolate until you get the consistency that you want. You probably wouldn't need the same amount of water as you would cream though, usually less is needed.

      Delete

Back to Top